Natural disasters and other emergencies can force you away from your home anywhere in the United States and people being treated for cancer must be aware of the dangers and prepared to respond. Hard lessons were learned after Hurrricanes Katrina and Rita slammed into the U.S.Gulf Coast in 2005. Cancer treatments were  interrupted, medical offices and patient medical histories and treatment records were destroyed, medications lost and medical teams scattered. Storms, fires, train derailments, mudslides, earthquakes, and any number of other disasters can disrupt entire communities and drive people from their homes and offices.

It is clear that people being treated for cancer must be prepared to:

	be without electricity for days if not weeks,
	be without safe drinking water for days if not weeks, and
	be evacuated from their homes and medical care for days if not weeks.

This guide will help you prepare and gather the information you'll need if you face displacement because of a natural disaster or terror attack.(To download a PDF version of this guide (16 pages), CLICK here . You will need an adobe reader on your computer; you can get an adobe reader for free here .)

Written by: Kathleen A. Jarvis, RN, MS, Matria Healthcare
Edited by: Rachael Myers Lowe, cancerpage.com

Last updated: May 1, 2007